Hosea 9:15 Komentář

In this chapter, I. God threatens to deprive this degenerate seed of Israel of all their worldly enjoyments, because by sin they had forfeited their title to them; so that they should have no comfort either in receiving them themselves or in offering them to God (Hos 9:1-5). II. He dooms them to utter ruin, for their own sins and the sins of their prophets (Hos 9:6-8). III. He upbraids them with the wickedness of their fathers before them, whose steps they trod in (Hos 9:9, Hos 9:10). IV. He threatens them with the destruction of their children and the rooting out of their posterity (Hos 9:11-17).

INTRODUCTION TO HOSEA 9 This chapter is an address to Israel or the ten tribes, and contains either a new sermon, or is a very considerable part of the former upon the same subject, the sins and punishment of that people. It begins with an instruction to them, not to rejoice in their prosperity, as others did; since it would soon be at an end, because of their idolatry, which was everywhere committed, and for which they expected a reward of temporal good things, Hos 9:1; but, on the contrary, they are threatened with famine, with want both of corn and wine, Hos 9:2; and with an ejection out of their land into foreign countries; where they should be obliged to eat things unclean by their law, Hos 9:3; and where their sacrifices and solemnities should be no more attended to, Hos 9:4; yea, where their carcasses should fall and be buried, while their own country and houses lay waste and desolate, Hos 9:6; for, whatsoever their foolish and mad prophets said to the contrary, who pretended to be with God, and know his will, and were a snare to them that gave heed unto them, and brought hatred on them, the time of their punishment would certainly come, Hos 9:7; and their iniquities would be remembered and visited; seeing their corruptions were deep, like those that appeared in Gibeah, in the days of old, Hos 9:9; they acting the same ungrateful part their fathers had done, of whom they were a degenerate offspring, Hos 9:10; wherefore for these, and other offences mentioned, they are threatened with being bereaved of their children, and drove out of their land, to wander among the nations, Hos 9:11.

Ephraim is smitten,.... The people of the ten tribes, the kingdom of Israel, who had been like a tree planted in a pleasant place, Hos 9:13; and were in very flourishing circumstances in the times of Jeroboam the second; but now were like a tree smitten with thunder and lightning, or hail stones, and beat to pieces; or with the heat of the sun, or with blasting winds, or by worms; as in the succeeding reigns, by the judgments of God upon them; by civil wars, conspiracies, and murders among themselves; and by the exactions of Pul and depredations of Tiglathpileser kings of Assyria; and quickly would be smitten again; the present being put for the future, because of the certainty of it, as usual in prophetic writings; or be utterly destroyed by Shalmaneser, and be no more a kingdom: their root is dried up; like the root of a tree that has no sap and moisture in it, and can communicate none to the body and branches of the tree, which in course must die. This may be understood of their king, princes, nobles, and chief men, the support and strength of the nations; and of parents and heads of families, cut off by one judgment or another: they shall bear no fruit; as a tree thus smitten, and its root dried up, cannot; so neither, this being their case, there would be none to beget, nor any to bear children, and bring them forth; called the fruit of the womb, in allusion to the fruit of trees: yea, though they bring forth; though some of them should be spared, women with their husbands, and should procreate children: yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb; their children they should bring forth, on whom their affections were strongly set; and the rather, as they were but few, and from whom they had raised expectations of building up their families; even these the Lord would stay, or suffer to be slain, either by the sword of the enemy, or by famine, or by pestilence, or by some disease or another; so that there should be no hope of a future posterity, at least of no great number of them.

"All their wickedness is at Gilgal: for there I hated them." LXX similarly. In Gilgal, Saul was anointed as king, with Samuel announcing God's anger to the people. (1 Kings 10) "There," he said, "I had them skinned, and they asked for a human king, and withdrew from my authority. Whether it was because Galgala is a place of idolatry, where they committed all kinds of sin. But because Galgala means "revelation," or "rolling," that is, "rolling away," all the wickedness of the heretics will be revealed at that time, when God gives them a barren womb and withered breasts, and they see their shame. And those who boasted through pride that they had ascended to lofty places, will be cast down to the ground or dragged down to hell. Truly, heretics are worthy of God's hatred, those who speak lies against the Lord, of whom he speaks in the following lines Because of the malice of their inventions, I will cast them out of my house. I will not continue to love them: all their rulers have departed," that is, "disobedient." The same is true of the Seventy. And indeed, there is no doubt that the heretics were cast out of God's house, and he will not love them as long as they remain in error, and all their rulers have turned away from God, that is, disobedient, such as Valentinus, Marcion, and others. We can say that the leaders of the heretics are demons who have truly turned away from God and are called princes, just as the Lord speaks in the Gospel: "The prince of this world will come and find nothing in me" (John 14:30). And the Apostle tells us to fight against the powers, principalities, and rulers of these darknesses (Ephesians 6). However, according to history, how did he cast them out of his house, that is, the ten tribes, when they were not in the house of God? But we shall call the house of God, or the Holy Land into which they were conducted, or the false name 'Israelites,' or the fact that the prophets were sent to them as though they were the people of God. But what is clear is that he does not add that he loves them, and that all the kings of Israel have departed from God, for until today they remain in captivity. Others believe that what is written, "I will eject them from my house," refers to the kingdom of Judah, which will also be led into captivity. But how can it be adapted to them, "I will not add that I love them," since they were later led back to Jerusalem: and "all their leaders are departing," since we have read that David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah were righteous kings? Hence we must pass on to the time of Christ, who, at His coming, was cast out of the house of God, and was not saved as Israel, but as the Christian people. Hence the Lord made a scourge for Himself out of cords, and cast them out of the temple: because they had made the house of His Father a house of business (John, ii).

While he was still praying, an angel of the Lord, very terrifying, appeared to him, having in his hand a fiery sword unsheathed. He said to our father Pachomius, “Just as God has blotted out his name from the ‘Book of Life,’ just so do you drive them out from the midst of the brothers, for they are not ignorant. Indeed, even to the ignorant, impurities of this sort seem like abominations before God.” When it was morning he put them in worldly clothing and told them, “Go and do as is fitting to the clothes whose practices you have made your own.” And he expelled them from among the brothers. The words of the prophet were fulfilled about them, “I will drive them out of my house, and I will love them no longer.”

The prophet reproves the Israelites for their sacrifices and rejoicings on their corn-floors, by which they ascribed to idols, as the heathen did, the praise of all their plenty, Hos 9:1. For which reason they are threatened with famine and exile, Hos 9:2, Hos 9:3, in a land where they should be polluted, and want the means of worshipping the God of their fathers, or observing the solemnities of his appointment, Hos 9:4, Hos 9:5. Nay more; they shall speedily fall before the destroyer, be buried in Egypt, and leave their own pleasant places desolate, Hos 9:6-9. God is then introduced declaring his early favor for his people, and the delight he took in their obedience; but now they had so deeply revolted, all their glory will take wing, God will forsake them, and their offspring be devoted to destruction, Hos 9:10-16.

All their wickedness is in Gilgal - Though we are not directly informed of the fact, yet we have reason to believe they had been guilty of some scandalous practices of idolatry in Gilgal See Hos 4:15. For there I hated them - And therefore he determined, "for the wickedness of their doings, to drive them out of his house," so that they should cease to be a part of the heavenly family, either as sons or servants; for he would "love them no more," and bear with them no longer.

WARNING AGAINST ISRAEL'S JOY AT PARTIAL RELIEF FROM THEIR TROUBLES: THEIR CROPS SHALL FAIL, AND THE PEOPLE LEAVE THE LORD'S LAND FOR EGYPT AND ASSYRIA, WHERE THEY CANNOT, IF SO INCLINED, SERVE GOD ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT RITUAL: FOLLY OF THEIR FALSE PROPHETS. (Hos. 9:1-17) Rejoice not . . . for joy--literally, "to exultation." Thy exultation at the league with Pul, by which peace seems secured, is out of place: since thy idolatry will bring ruin on thee. as other people--the Assyrians for instance, who, unlike thee, are in the height of prosperity. loved a reward upon every corn floor--Thou hast desired, in reward for thy homage to idols, abundance of corn on every threshing-floor (Hos 2:12).

All their wickedness--that is, their chief guilt. Gilgal--(see on Hos 4:15). This was the scene of their first contumacy in rejecting God and choosing a king (Sa1 11:14-15; compare Sa1 8:7), and of their subsequent idolatry. there I hated them--not with the human passion, but holy hatred of their sin, which required punishment to be inflicted on themselves (compare Mal 1:3). out of mine house--as in Hos 8:1 : out of the land holy unto ME. Or, as "love" is mentioned immediately after, the reference may be to the Hebrew mode of divorce, the husband (God) putting the wife (Israel) out of the house. princes . . . revolters--"Sarim . . . Sorerim" (Hebrew), a play on similar sounds.

Warning against false security. The earthly prosperity of the people and kingdom was no security against destruction. Because Israel had fallen away from its God, it should not enjoy the blessing of its field-produce, but should be carried away to Assyria, where it would be unable to keep any joyful feasts at all. Hos 9:1. "Rejoice not, O Israel, to exult like the nations: for thou hast committed whoredom against thy God: hast loved the wages of whoredom upon all corn-floors. Hos 9:2. The threshing-floor and press will not feed them, and the new wine will deceive it." The rejoicing to which Israel was not to give itself up was, according to Hos 9:2, rejoicing at a plentiful harvest. All nations rejoiced, and still rejoice, at this (cf. Isa 9:2), because they regard the blessing of harvest as a sign and pledge of the favour and grace of God, which summon them to gratitude towards the giver. Now, when the heathen nations ascribed their fights to their gods, and in their way thanked them for them, they did this in the ignorance of their heart, without being specially guilty on that account, since they lived in the world without the light of divine revelation. But when Israel rejoiced in a heathenish way at the blessing of its harvest, and attributed this blessing to the Baals (see Hos 2:7), the Lord could not leave this denial of His gracious benefits unpunished. אל־גּיל belongs to תּשׂמח, heightening the idea of joy, as in Job 3:22. כּי זנית does not give the object of the joy ("that thou hast committed whoredom:" Ewald and others), but the reason why Israel was not to rejoice over its harvests, namely, because it had become unfaithful to its God, and had fallen into idolatry. זנה מעל, to commit whoredom out beyond God (by going away from Him). The words, "thou lovest the wages of whoredom upon all corn-floors," are to be understood, according to Hos 2:7, Hos 2:14, as signifying that Israel would not regard the harvest-blessing upon its corn-floors as gifts of the goodness of its God, but as presents from the Baals, for which it had to serve them with still greater zeal. There is no ground for thinking of any peculiar form of idolatry connected with the corn-floors. Because of this the Lord would take away from them the produce of the floor and press, namely, according to Hos 9:3, by banishing the people out of the land. Floor and press will not feed them, i.e., will not nourish or satisfy them. The floor and press are mentioned in the place of their contents, or what they yield, viz., for corn and oil, as in Kg2 6:27. By the press we must understand the oil-presses (cf. Joe 2:24), because the new wine is afterwards specially mentioned, and corn, new wine, and oil are connected together in Hos 2:10, 24. The suffix בּהּ refers to the people regarded as a community.

The Lord thereupon replies in Hos 9:15 : "All their wickedness is at Gilgal; for there I took them into hatred: for the evil of their doings will I drive them out of my house, and not love them any more; all their princes are rebellions." How far all the wickedness of Ephraim was concentrated at Gilgal it is impossible to determine more precisely, since we have no historical accounts of the idolatrous worship practised there (see at Hos 4:15). That Gilgal was the scene of horrible human sacrifices, as Hitzig observes at Hos 12:12, cannot be proved from Hos 13:2. שׂנא is used here in an inchoative sense, viz., to conceive hatred. On account of their wickedness they should be expelled from the house, i.e., the congregation of Jehovah (see at Hos 8:1). The expression "I will drive them out of my house" (mibbēthı̄ 'ăgâreshēm) may be explained from Gen 21:10, where Sarah requests Abraham to drive (gârash) Hagar her maid out of the house along with her son, that the son of the maid may not inherit with Isaac, and where God commands the patriarch to carry out Sarah's will. The expulsion of Israel from the house of the Lord is separation from the fellowship of the covenant nation and its blessings, and is really equivalent to loving it no longer. There is a play upon words in the last clause שׂריהם סוררים.